NEWARK -- An unidentified man was shot and killed in the city’s South Ward tonight, marking the city’s fourth slaying in five days, police said.

At 7:38 p.m., police responded to reports of someone screaming for help at Badger Avenue and West Bigelow Street, said city police spokesman Detective Hubert Henderson. The responding officers discovered a man, whose identity was not yet known, had sustained at least one gunshot wound to the head, according to Henderson.

Police cordoned off Badger Avenue between West Bigelow and West Alpine streets tonight, but had not yet identified a suspect or motive in the killing, Henderson said.

The shooting death is the city’s 63rd homicide of the year, and the fourth homicide this week in Newark. A man was gunned down on Norwood Avenue Sunday night, and two victims, 26-year old Lamont Richardson and 30-year-old Aminah Crowder, were killed in a Monday night shooting outside of the Hampton Valley Apartments on Elizabeth Avenue.

A city man, who asked not to be identified, said he was surprised when a family member called him and told him someone had died on the block.

"Stuff like this doesn’t really happen here. There’s a police precinct nearby," said the man, referring to the department’s fifth precinct located on the 200 block of West Bigelow Street. "I was shocked when I got the call," he said.